Lachlan "Lochie" Hughes (born 15 March 2002) is an Australian racing driver who currently competes in Indy NXT for Andretti Global and serves as a reserve driver for the team in the IndyCar Series.
Hughes made his American open-wheel debut in 2022, winning the 2022 Formula 4 United States Championship for Jay Howard Driver Development. He then finished third in the 2023 USF2000 Championship and won the 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship. In his debut Indy NXT season in 2025, he finished third.
Career Karting Hughes would have success in karting, finishing second in both the Florida Winter Tour, the WSK Gold cup and the Australian Kart Championship in 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Australian Formula 4 Championship 2018 In 2018, Hughes would make his car racing debut in the Australian Formula 4 Championship driving for Team BRM. He would get his maiden win in the series at Winton Motor Raceway. Hughes would finish the season fifth in the standings and rookie champion.
2019 Hughes would return to the series in 2019 once again driving for Team BRM. He would get three wins, two poles, and eleven podiums during the season to finish second behind champion Luis Leeds.
Formula 4 United States Championship After not racing in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hughes would move to the United States to compete in the 2022 Formula 4 United States Championship driving for Jay Howard Driver Development. He would start off the season with a win in the first race at NOLA Motorsports Park. At the New Jersey Motorsports Park round, Hughes would take pole position, and won all three races on-track, however, a penalty in race one for jumping the start meant that his win would be taken away. Hughes would clinch the championship at the final round at Circuit of the Americas taking two wins to cap off the season. He would finish the season with six wins, two poles, and ten podiums.
USF2000 Championship 2022 Hughes would make his debut in the USF2000 Championship in 2022 with Jay Howard Driver Development at the Mid-Ohio round. Finishing second in his first ever race later to be disqualified for a technical infringement.
2023 On 6 October 2022, it was announced that Hughes would stay with Jay Howard Driver Development and make the jump up to the USF2000 Championship full-time in 2023. At the opening round at St. Petersburg, Hughes would beat competitor Nikita Johnson to pole position by just eight hundredths of a second. He would manage to convert pole to victory, getting his maiden win of the season.
USF Pro 2000 Championship 2024 Hughes made his debut in the 2024 season racing with Turn 3 Motorsport. Claiming five wins, four pole positions and eleven podiums, Hughes won the title at the season finale at Portland ahead of Nikita Johnson.
Indy NXT 2025
In October 2024, Hughes graduated to the championship for the 2025 season with Andretti Global. In the opening race of the season at St. Petersburg, he would qualify second behind his teammate Dennis Hauger. Hughes would convert his qualifying result in the race, finishing on the podium in second. He would score another podium in the second round at Barber, finishing third behind debutant Evagoras Papasavvas and Hauger. For the third round of the season at Indianapolis, Hughes qualified on pole for both Indy GP races, ahead of teammate and championship leader Hauger. He would have a dominant performance in race one, leading from the start, and going on to score his maiden win in the series. Hughes would close down the gap to Hauger by thirty points to just three points following Hauger's finish of eighth.
2026 Hughes returned with Andretti for the 2026 season.
IndyCar Alongside his Indy NXT campaign, Hughes will also serve as the reserve driver for Andretti in IndyCar for 2026.
Karting record Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition2014Florida Winter Tour – Rotax Mini MaxPraga North America11thFlorida Winter Tour – Kart Formula TaG CadetIPKarting Australia2ndROK Cup International Final – Mini ROKPraga Kart Racing14thWSK Final Cup — 60 Mini16th2015WSK Night Edition — 60 MiniBirel ART7thWSK Gold Cup — 60 Mini2ndSouth Garda Winter Cup – Mini ROK6th2016CIK-FIA European Championship — OK Junior52ndWSK Night Edition — OKJNovalux Srl12thAustralian Kart Championship – KA24thItalian Championship — OKJ13th2017Australian Kart Championship – KA22ndRace Of Stars Birel ART 1st
Racing record Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2018Australian Formula 4 ChampionshipTeam BRM 21 1 0 1 2 224 5th 2019Australian Formula 4 ChampionshipTeam BRM 18 3 2 0 11 2662nd2022YACademy Winter Series Jay Howard Driver Development 3 0 0 0 0 0NC†Formula 4 United States Championship 18 6 2 5 10 2771stUSF2000 Championship 3 0 0 0 0 22 28th 2023USF2000 ChampionshipJay Howard Driver Development 18 4 2 0 8 3353rd 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship Turn 3 Motorsport 18 5 4 3 11 3951st 2025 Indy NXT Andretti Global 14 2 2 2 8 4663rd2026Indy NXTAndretti Global 17 1 1 1 4 453 5thIndyCar SeriesReserve driver * Season still in progress. † As Hughes was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
Complete Australian Formula 4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2018 Team BRM SYM1 SYM2 SYM3 PHI1 PHI2 PHI3 QLD1 QLD2 QLD3 WIN11 WIN12 WIN13 WIN21 WIN22 WIN23 SYD1 SYD2 SYD3 PUK1 PUK2 PUK3 5th 224 2019 Team BRM MEL1 MEL2 MEL3 SYD1 SYD2 SYD3 PHI11 PHI12 PHI13 PHI21 PHI22 PHI23 BEN11 BEN12 BEN13 BEN21 BEN22 BEN232nd266
Complete Formula 4 United States Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) YearTeam123456789101112131415161718PosPoints 2022 Jay Howard Driver Development NOL1 NOL2 NOL3 ROA1 ROA2 ROA3 MOH1 MOH2 MOH3 NJM1 NJM2 NJM3 VIR1 VIR2 VIR3 COA1 COA2 COA3 1st 277
American open-wheel racing results USF2000 Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led) YearTeam123456789101112131415161718RankPoints2022Jay Howard Driver Development STP1 STP2 ALA1 ALA2 IMS1 IMS2 IMS3 IRP ROA1 ROA2 MOH1 MOH2 MOH3 TOR1 TOR2 POR1 POR2 POR3 28th 222023Jay Howard Driver Development STP1 STP2 SEB1 SEB1 IMS1 IMS2 IMS3 IRP ROA1 ROA2 MOH1 MOH2 MOH3 TOR1 TOR2 POR1 POR2 POR3 3rd 335
USF Pro 2000 Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led) YearTeam123456789101112131415161718RankPoints2024Turn 3 Motorsport STP1 STP2 LOU1 LOU2 LOU3 IMS1 IMS2 IMS3 IRP ROA1 ROA2 ROA3MOH1 MOH2 TOR1 TOR2 POR1 POR2 1st 395
Indy NXT (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with L indicate a race lap led) (Races with * indicate most race laps led) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points 2025 Andretti Global STP BAR IMS IMS DET GMP RDA MOH IOW LAG LAG POR MIL NSH 3rd 466 2026 Andretti Global STP ARL BAR BAR IMS IMS DET GAT ROA ROA MOH MOH NSS POR MIL LAG LAG 5th 453
References
External links
Lochie_Hughes at Third Turn.